


A Secret for a Secret

by birdystrider



Series: Fox in the Water [1]
Category: Pillars of Eternity
Genre: Gen, In Game Dialogue, my watcher is just an absolute menace, xoti is there too but it's not from her pov and she doesn't have a lot of dialogue so
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-17
Updated: 2019-01-17
Packaged: 2019-10-11 20:24:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17453687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/birdystrider/pseuds/birdystrider
Summary: Delver’s Row is a bustling underground market.  The Watcher peers around curiously, taking in his surroundings with eagerness Tekēhu finds endearing.  It becomes less endearing when he leads them down a side passage into a cave-like room filled with all sorts of monsters.  None of them are hostile but all of them are equally terrifying.  Orono on the other hand looks absolutely overjoyed.





	A Secret for a Secret

**Author's Note:**

> this was written last july and i loved this bit of in game dialogue so much because it fit my watcher perfectly and i could only imagine how he'd act and his excitement along with the original dialogue choices. originally i tried to edit the party to fit with the one i actually took to the undercroft in my current playthrough but the base party of xoti, eder, aloth, and tekehu just struck so much more of an interesting dynamic for this scene. so i figured: if it ain't broke don't fix it, and did minimal editing to this old snippet before posting.

Delver’s Row is a bustling underground market.  The Watcher peers around curiously, taking in his surroundings with eagerness Tekēhu finds endearing.  It becomes less endearing when he leads them down a side passage into a cave-like room filled with all sorts of monsters.  None of them are hostile but all of them are equally terrifying.  Orono on the other hand looks absolutely overjoyed, or at least, as much as he can look with his mostly expressionless face.  His eyes are wide and his mouth falls open, his full attention on the vithrack at the back of the room.

“Fascinating,” he mutters breathlessly.

_What is this Elf-creature?_ The vithrack projects. It cocks its head, eyes trained on the Watcher.  The other creatures in the room have their gazes focused on him as well.  It’s unsettling to say the least.

“Oh, it’s making my skin crawl,” Xoti shivers, running her hands over her arms.

“What secrets does it bring?” the Ogre asks.

_Let us see, let us see,_ the vithrack projects eagerly, clicking its claws together in delight.  Suddenly its attention turns straight to Tekēhu.  He winces at being noticed, not something he can say happens often.  _No prize secrets with this one.  Not like the others with the water sense.  Their minds carry secrets of a damp cave.  A hateful glare beneath a stagnant pool.  A dead woman’s regret…_ The vithracks eyes roll back in its head at the memory.

“Tekēhu, this mean anything to you?” the Watcher wonders.

“Gibberish!” Tekēhu declares.  “The floating spider had best explain itself.”

_Kith horde many secrets,_ the vithrack hisses into their minds.  _The best ones they bury deep in their cities, behind mighty walls._   Its head swivels back to the Watcher intently.  _But what secrets fill your mind?_

Rather than back off like any sensible person would the Watcher steps closer without a thought, gaze trained on the vithrack with almost an excitement.

“What secrets do you want?” he asks.

_Any!  All!_   The vithrack projects insistently.  The Watcher sways a little and Aloth tensely reaches out but the Watcher holds up a hand to stop him.

“Oh boy, secret nonsense again,” Edér sighs, shifting from foot to foot.  “We’re never gonna get out of here.”

The vithracks mandibles click as it searches.  _You picked and puzzled at the mysteries of the natural world.  Will you deny us?_   The way the Watcher settles his shoulders at this question unsettles Tekēhu.  _Yes, you came to the Deadfire seeking knowledge, too._

“Go ahead,” the Watcher tells it, watching the vithrack with interest.  “I have nothing to hide.”

_A Watcher.  The Dyrwood.  The untamed wilds of the Living Lands._   The vithrack summarizes as it rifles through the Watcher’s head.  All they can do is sit back and anxiously watch.  _A death.  A life.  A wide sea, stirred by storms and pirates and… Ah!  A wonderful secret._   It clacks and rubs its mandibles together, seemingly pleased with itself.

“I don’t trust this creature, at all,” Aloth mumbles, glancing nervously towards the exit.

The Watcher has other ideas however.  The way he leans towards the vithrack and surveys the room as well as its occupants is the same way a pirate might survey a room full of treasure.

“Will you tell me a secret?” he hopes, his full attention on the vithrack.

“Yes, you have been generous to us,” the cloaked elf says.  His eyes whirl to her with delight, as if fascinated by her interjection.  Off to the side the ogre nods and the Watcher’s curiosity is even more fueled.  His attention turns back eagerly to the vithrack.

_There is a place below the slums – old, cold, and abandoned – where the city swallows those it wishes forgotten._   The vithrack shares.  _But this place was once part of the city.  So was its temple – a site holy to the goddess of distant, forgotten things._

“Distant, forgotten things…” the Watcher repeats, absolutely spellbound.  He looks back to the vithrack curiously.  “What are you doing in the Gullet?”

_We dig!_ The vithrack projects.  _There are many here with secrets.  Many depths with even more._

“A city under the city,” the ogre chimes in.

“Another in the ruins!” the cloaked elf joins.

_It teems with young secrets – rivalries and betrayals,_ the vithrack continues.  _We seek the older secrets, buried deeper and carved on weathered stone.  But your friends, the cutthroats and cutpurses of this place, they do not care for the old secrets!  They do not!_

“I care for old secrets,” the Watcher tells them.  “Secrets are what keep kith striving for knowledge.  Without them we wouldn’t advance society or technology.”

_Yes, of course the elf-creature sees_ , the vithrack projects.  _The elf-creature hears, not unlike us.  Tell us, Watcher of the Dyrwood, will you bring us more secrets?_

“Will you give me secrets in return?” the Watcher wonders.

_A secret for a secret,_ the vithrack projects.  _Clever Watcher, always looking, always searching.  Will the clever Watcher ever find it we wonder?  Will it ever truly satisfy?_

“We will have to see, won’t we?” the Watcher replies vaguely.  He nods to them.  “Should I come across any secrets, perhaps I will come back.”

_We will be waiting, clever Watcher,_ the vithrack projects.

The Watcher nods and turns on heel, leading them back out into the hall.

“Would anybody care to explain what just happened?” Tekēhu asks once they’re safely out of earshot - or mind shot technically.

“Just a normal day with our dear friend, the Watcher,” Edér comments.  “Cryptic nonsense, floating spiders, mind voodoo, you get used to it.  I used to think it was all just weird Watcher stuff, but turns out that’s just good old Orono.”

“You’re some kinda scientist, aren’t you, Watcher?” Xoti recalls.

“’Some kind of’ scientist, yes,” Orono repeats with amusement.  “What can I say?  I enjoy unravelling the mysteries of the world.  I enjoy blowing things up almost as much.  Luckily for me, the two tend to overlap.”

“It’s not the first time he’s been intrigued by something and I doubt it’ll be the last,” Aloth sighs.

“I like to keep you on your toes, Aloth,” the Watcher says slyly.  “Besides, you know life would be so dull without me.”

Aloth raises an eyebrow, unimpressed.

“Come on, let’s go down the lift and see if we can’t find what we’re looking for,” the Watcher tells them.


End file.
